Saturday, May 18, 2013

I get tired of being against things. It
leaves you in a negative mood when all you can complain about are
things that upset you. I get tired of politicians who were against
something all the time. I want to be for something. I want
politicians who are for something. I want politicians like Elizabeth
Warren and Bernie Sanders who are positive in what they want to do.
They will mention some of the things that are wrong but they will
also speak of the things that can be done to correct the situation.
It seems so many of the Republicans are against anything but you
don't hear what they are for. I know that many of the Republicans are
against Obama care but I don't hear a positive replacement for that.
I know that many of the Republicans are against the EPA and OSHA but
they don't spell out how they would replace those entities. They
complain about waste and the government and they somehow believe that
private enterprise could replace that more efficiently but they offer
no example of when that has happened. We've seen the privatization of
much of the military, particularly in the support area. But I'm not
sure that they received any money by hiring this out to private
enterprise and lobbied acquaintances. When we privatize some of our
services there is no incentive for that service to be more efficient
or cost less in fact just the opposite occurs because the more it
costs the more they make. When I was in construction you made more
money from the changes to the contract then you made from the
original contract. So right now the emphasis is on performing the
work through private enterprise instead of public employees which
presents a method to reward lackeys. And we very seldom punish our
suppliers for not being cost-efficient. In fact they end up making
more money correcting the errors that they themselves brought on.

But here I am being negative again and
that isn't what I meant to do. I think I am just like the majority of
the American citizens who have been waiting now for several years for
Congress to act. We want some positive steps taken to help our
economy to help our jobs. Instead always gotten delaying actions in
and balking against doing anything productive. They want to point
fingers at each other instead of moving forward with plans for the
future. Meanwhile the average citizen is losing ground. Homes are
worth less than they used to be, and jobs are more scarce, education
costs more, food costs have risen, health care costs have risen,
payee has stagnated and all Congress can do is block each other.
Congress seems to be only responding to the wealthy backers.
Corporations and banks seem to be controlling our country and the
wishes of the citizens are ignored. Even our Democratic president,
who talks a good talk, doesn't follow through for the common man.
Something will have to change.

Right now politics is controlled by the
wealthy and we are offered only those candidates who can obtain
monies from the wealthy in order to run their campaign. So our choice
is to take their left hand or the right hand with no other option. We
lose going in. Now that the wealthy also control the courts and
corporations are now recognized by the courts as having personal
rights and the ability to pump money into politics we can only look
forward to more and more of the same. Meanwhile certain wealthy
individuals or organizations control the news media and we only get
the filtered news that they wish us to have. Much of the news is
biased and opinionated and often controlled by the whims and
decisions of the wealthy. Many people still believe that the news as
presented on the various channels but they don't know that the news
has been selectively chosen for certain desired effect. I'm not sure
when the public will wake up discover that we've lost control of our
own country.

Every once in a while you have a Bernie
Sanders pop-up or an Elizabeth Warren which gives a spark of hope but
their voices often get drowned out by the cacophony of the machine
politics. Something will have to change and hopefully soon.

Thursday, May 02, 2013

A person is lucky to get 7 dozen years
and some even get 8 dozen, but not too many.

The first dozen years go by slowly as
we learn to speak and walk and run and sing and pass through grade
school. By the end of my first dozen years I was through 7th
grade and through Cub Scouts and ready for high school.

The second dozen years go by more
quickly as we pass through high school and have our first love and
learn to drive and to work and to share with others. Some of us go
on to college while some go into military and others begin to work.
Some of us get married and start our families.

The third dozen years find us buying
our first home and establishing our work history, raising our kids,
finding our path through life. Some of us end up changing our paths
with divorce or changing jobs or changing locations. The years are
passing much quicker.

The fourth dozen years find us more
mature and looked upon more as leaders in our groups. Our children
are growing up and finding their way into life. We are starting to
look ahead towards our future retirement. Our bodies are starting to
give us a little more trouble as we have worn them with little regard
for the passing years. The years pass by almost before we realize
them.

The fifth dozen years are the winding
down years in our professions. Our families have grown and left and
we find little room for change at this point in our lives. We are
more accepting of the situations we find ourselves in and are
contemplating retirement.

The sixth dozen years find us retired
and a little less healthy. We have learned much over the years and
have much more wisdom than we had earlier, but our opinion carries
less weight in the community at large. The past dozen years have
brought tremendous technical changes in our world, but we have
memories of simpler times and find the modern times a bit
bewildering. Where did the years go?

We are still the young people we once
were, in our minds, with much more wisdom to share, but our bodies
are not keeping up with our mental facilities. We now know that the
end approaches and that we won't leave a lasting legacy for the
future generations, but we will try to set an example for our
children and grandchildren to follow.

The seventh dozen years are mellow
years with little expectation and more enjoyment of the simpler joys.
We have done our best and have made it this far and now we can enjoy
the sunsets and the breezes and not worry about the future we won't
see. The present is enough and the years have flown by far too
quickly with many unnoticed. The memories are good and those
memories that once hurt are now diffused with the glow of years gone
by. We remember only the good and have no bitterness for what might
have been.

It has been a good life and I enjoyed the experiences. Each dozen had its own flavor and contributed to the mix.